Shipping container



Patented Sept 26, 1922,

siren crates CHARLES H. CBOWELL, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

SHIPPING CONTAINER.

Application filed December 24, 1919. Serial No. 347,202.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES H. CnowELL, a citizen of the United States,and resident of the borough of Brooklyn, county of Kings, city and Stateof New York, have made a certain new and useful Invention Relating toShipping Containers, of which the following is a specification, taken inconnection with the accompanying drawing.

This invention relates especially to shipping containers which may be sosealed and closed as to be non-pilferable. When the container is oncesealed it is not only amply strong for ordinary freight and expressshipments, but it is also practically impossible to open the containerin such way as not to leave absolute evidence thereof so that pilferingis prevented or detected. This also has another advantage in making itpractically necessary to destroy the container in order to remove thegoods originally shipped therein so as to minimize or prevent the reuseof the container which when made of corrugated paper board naturally hasless strength and stiffness after its initial shipment. The containerwhich may be made of either corrugated paper or fibre board, etc., mayadvantageously comprise a body in which the one or more side or edgeseams are closed or reenforced by body connector or retainer strips ofadhesively secured paper or cloth tape which has the ends brought downinside the container body and preferably overlapping therein so that itis practically impossible to thus arrange the ends of this strip afterthe top and bottom covers are secured to the container. One or more ofthese covers may have concealed or inside portions cemented to thecontainer body so as to further prevent tampering with or pilfering theclosed package and to give addi tional strength the top and bottom seamsor edges may be closed and secured by sealing strips of cloth or papertape which preferably have their seam portions rendered flexible orreadily folded which facilitates their application to the container. Insome cases it is advantageous to form the container of two nestingcontainer sections so that the top and bottom are thus secured togetherby the connecting portions of the inner container section which nestswithin the contamer body and maybe adhesively secured thereto by glue,silicate of soda or the like, throughout any desired parts of theseadacent cooperating faces of the nested sections.

In the accompanying drawing showing in a somewhat diagrammatic wayseveral illustrat ve embodiments of the invention,

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a container partly in section.

Fig. 2 is a partial transverse section thereof taken substantially alongthe line 2=--2 of Fig. 1"; and

Fig. 3 is a perspective view of another illustrative container of whichpart has been cut away to show its construction.

In the illustrative embodiment of the invention shown in Fig. 1 of thedrawing the container body which may as indicated be formed ofcorrugated paper board may'comprise the'ends 5 and 7 connected bytheside sections 6 and 6, and if desired these parts may be formed of asingle sheet or strip of corrugated paper which is preferably scored orcreased transversely of the corrugations so as to make possible thedefinite sizing and interchangeability of these parts; and it is alsodesirable to reenfor'ce the creased folds or seams of this containerbody by adhesively securing thereto fold reenforcing tape such as 11.The ends of this body strip may advantageously be-formed with square orother abutting edges 24 as shown in Fig. 2, and may be secured togetherby an adhesive cloth or paper body connector or retainer strip 15 whichis secured to the side or edge seam and has portions 16 extending overthe edges of this material while its inturned ends 14, 17 are broughtalong the seam on the inside of the container body and may, if desired,be forced into engagement with the edges of the material when this stripis applied with the corrugated paper' body section in substantially fiatposition at this point, so that folding of the container section intomore nearly fiat position is thus promoted.

' If desired also one or more of the other edge seams may bestrengthened and reenforced and protected against pilfering by theapplication of a seam body retainer strip,

iii

such as 20, of gummed or otherwise adhesive cloth or paper tape whichfor similar reasons preferably has its ends inturned and secured on theinside of the corresponding seam.

The top and bottom may be secured to this container body in any suitableway and in many cases it is desirable to use an inner container sectioncomprising the top and bottom which may be made of corrugated paper,paper board, or any other suitable material. Bis shown in Fig. 1, thebottom 1 may be formed integral with the top 3 when both of these partsare comprised in the inner container section having the end portions 2and a, all of which may be conveniently made of creased and foldedcorrugated paper board in which the creases are preferably reenforcedwith the adhesively secured reenforcing strips 11 which may be forcedinto the creased portions 12 to allow accurate folding of this containersection, especially when the creases extend transversely of thecorrugated paper material. The adjacent ends 8 of this strip of materialmay be connected in any suitable way as by the uniting strips 13 securedto one or both sides of the corrugated paper material and where thisunion takes place in a substantially flat face of the container sectionsubsequent folding is not likely to disturb the connection so that allof the edges of this container section are left at substantially fullstrength. After the goods have been arranged within the inner containersection and the outer section or container body slipped over the sameinto such relative position as is indicated in Fig. l, the parts may besecured in any suitable way and preferably the adjacent cooperatingfaces of these nested sections are glued or cemented together as by glue1a which may be applied to one or both of these faces before thecontainer sections are slipped together so that these concealed insideportions are securely united by any suitable adhesive such as glue,silicate of soda or other adhesive composition. Then the sealing stripssuch as 19, 22 and 21, which are preferably of cloth or paper gummedtape having flexible or yieldable mid-portions to promote folding areapplied to the container, and if desired, these strips may be cut andmoistened on any suitable machine which moistens, severs and deliverssuccessive series of strips of different lengths suitable forapplication to such a package. Under these conditions the bottom sealingstrips may first be put in place and then if desired the top sealingstrips applied to the container so that the joints or seams of thecontainer are thus securely closed and moisture is prevented fromentering the container especially if these sealing strips haveparalfined or otherwise waterproofed or water resistant outer surfacesor portions.

Such a package has great strength and it is practically impossible toopen the package or pilfer material therefrom in such way as to avoidleaving evidence of such unauthorized opening when the container isfinally opened at its destination. In this connection the adhesivesecuring or cementing of the concealed inside portions of the containerare desirable and also the use of such inturned ends of the connector orretainer strips are important, since it is of course practicallyimpossible to replace these strips when the two container sections areassembled. in nested positionwithout at once calling attention to thefact that they have been replaced under these circumstances instead ofbeing originally secured in place when the container section was firstformed. The customer opening the container naturally cuts through orcuts out the top or bottom so that at least this container sectioncannot be re-used and the strong adhesive connection between thesections makes it practically impossible to sell either section of thecontainer for reuse on anything approaching a new price basis.

In the illustrative arrangement shown in Fig. 3, the container body maybe made of one or more sections of corrugated paper,

fibre board or the like, each edge or side seam where the differentpieces of material are united being secured by connector or retainerstrips of gummed cloth or paper tape, such as 31, the ends 33 of whichmay be inturned and secured on the inside of the con tainer body.Similar retaining strips 35 may be applied to the other side or edgeseams of the body and preferably have similar inturned ends whichminimize or prevent the pilfering from the container for similarreasons. If desired, the container body may be formed of a single stripor piece of corrugated paper board which may be creased at the properpoints preferably transversely across the corrugations of the materialso as to form the sides or sections 27, 28 and 29, and these creased orscored portions are preferably reenforced by suitable paper or clothtape strips 11 in a similar Way. In order to cement the top and bottomto the container body in such way that concealed inside portions may bethus glued or cemented the edges of the container body may be given astepped or rabbeted form as shown, so that these body portions 27 28 and29 all have the upstanding projecting top and bottom edges 30 withinwhich the top and bottom 25, 26' of similar corrugated paper board orthe like may be forced or fitted and then glued or cemented in place byglue or other adhesive 34 secured to these concealed inside portions soas to prevent unauthorized opening of the package without detection. Theconnector or retainer strip 31 may have the portion 32 brought downinside and secured to the upstanding 1 ,eeoase edge or stepped portionotthis material so as to allow the close fitting of the top and bottomof the container which may be secured by the glue 34 at these pointsafter the desired goods have been placed in the container. Then similarsealing strips 36, 37 and 38 may be applied to the top and bottom edgesof the container in a similar way to give added strength and security tothe package.

This invention has been described in con nection with a number ofillustrative embodiments, forms, portions, parts, materials,arrangements and methods of manufacture and use, to the details of whichdisclosure the invention is not of course to be limited, since what isclaimed as new and what is desired to be secured by Letters Patent isset forth in the appended claims:

1. In non-pilferable shipping containers, a container body formed ofcorrugated paper board having transversely creased edge portionsreenforced on the inside of the container body by adhesively securedreentorcing tape, the ends of said body material being secured togetherby a body connector retainer strip of gummed cloth tape having its endsbrought over the edges of the body material and secured on the inside ofthe seam in mutually overlapping position, a nesting inner containersection formed of corrugated paper board and comprising a top and bottomand connected sides, and glue adhesive cementing together the adjacentcooperating faces of said nested sections to form cemented concealedinside portions of the container to prevent pilfering.

2. In non-pilterable shipping containers, a container body formed ofpaper board, the ends of said body material being secured together by abody connector retainer strip of gummed tape having its ends broughtover the edges of the body material and secured on the inside of theseam, a nesting inner container section formed of paper board andcomprising a top and bottom and connected sides, and adhesive cementingtogether the adjacent cooperating faces of said nested sections to formcemented concealed inside portions of the container to preventpilfering.

3. In non-pilferable shipping containers, a container body formed ofpaper board, the adjacent ends of said body material being securedtogether by a body retainer strip of tape having its ends brought overthe edges of the body material and secured on the inside of the seam, anesting inner container section formed of paper board and comprising atop and bottom and connected sides, and adhesive cementing together theadjacent cooperating faces of said nested sections to form cementedconcealed inside portions of the container to prevent undetectedpilfering.

4C. In non-pilterable shipping containers,

a container body formed of paper board, the adjacent ends of said bodymaterial being secured together by a body retainer strip of tape, anesting inner container section formed of paper board and comprising atop and bottom and connected sides, and means connecting the adjacentcooperating faces of said nested sections to prevent undetectedpiltering.

5. The non-pilterable shipping container comprising a container body ofcorrugated paper material having each side seam where pieces of the bodymaterial are joined secured by a retainer strip of gummed tape havinginturned ends which are brought around the edges of the body materialand adhesively secured in overlapping position to the inside of thecontainer body and a cooperating top and bottom secured to saidcontainer body by cemented concealed inside portions and sealing stripsclosing the seams around said top and bottom.

6. The non-pilferable shipping container comprising a container body ofcorrugated paper material having each side seam where pieces of the bodymaterial are joined sccured by a retainer strip of tape having in--turned ends" which are brought around the edges of the body material andadhesively secured to the inside of the container body and a cooperatingtop and bottom secured to said container body by cemented concealedinside portions.

7. The non-pilterable shipping container comprisinga container body ofpaper material having each side seam where pieces of the body materialare joined secured by a retainer strip of tape having inturned endswhich are brought around the edges of the body material and secured tothe inside of the container body and a cooperating top and bottomsecured to said container body.

8. The nonpilterable shipping container comprising a container body ofcorrugated paper material having a side seam where pieces of the bodymaterial are joined se cured by a retainer strip of tape having inturnedends which are brought around the edges of the body material and securedto the inside of the container body and a cooperating top or bottomcover secured to said container body by adhesively connected concealedinside portions and having sealing strips closing its seams.

9. The shipping container comprising a container body of paper materialhaving a side seam where pieces of the body material are joined securedby a retainer strip of tape having inturned ends which are secured tothe inside of the container body and a cooperating top or bottom coversecured to said container body by connected concealed inside portions.

10. The shipping container comprising a container body of paper materialand a cooperating top or bottom cover secured to said container body byconnected concealed inside portions" 11. The shipping containercomprising a container body of corrugated paper material and an innernesting container section comprising a cooperating top and bottomsecured to said container body by cemented concealed inside portions.

12. The shipping container comprising a container body of corrugatedpaper material and a cooperating top and bottom secured to saidcontainer body by connected inside portions.

CHARLES H. CROWELL.

